About Me

Friday, July 31, 2009

To Boldly Go To A Movie I've Seen Before

I am about to make a confession: I have seen every Star Trek movie.

I've seen them all, but not recently. When I was in elementary school, I went through a massive Star Trek obsession and rented the first eight movies. I liked them, but at the time I would have liked anything with the name Star Trek on it. Star Trek: Insurrection came out while I was at the height of this obsession, so naturally I saw it in theaters. I wanted to see Star Trek: Nemesis in theaters as well, but missed my chance and ended up renting it also. As I said, I liked all these movies, but I was flat out obsessed. Looking back, most of them were pretty bad, something perhaps epitomized by the horrific moment in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier where Kirk, Spock and McCoy are on a camping trip, sitting in a canyon and singing Kumbaya...yeah.

Nonetheless, I like the franchise enough to go see this new movie on the day it came out...and then go see it again today, at one of only two theaters in my area that is still showing it: the IMAX theater at my local aquarium. The fact that an aquarium needs an IMAX theater is bad enough.

What do I think? I saw it again for a reason. This is the best Star Trek in years.

When I first heard that it was happening, I was horrified. The idea of a movie featuring new actors portraying Kirk and Spock at Starfleet Academy is one that Paramount has mooted several times, and I was always dead set against it - yet I ended up loving it. That's not to say it was perfect. The plot, when you actually break it down, makes no sense, and the violence was endless (the famous Enterprise crew basically wouldn't have been such if everyone else hadn't died.) Yet it doesn't really matter, because for the first time in ages, Star Trek was actually exciting, and I wasn't the only one who thought so - my local newspaper gave the movie a four-star review. I believe Paramount is working on another movie with this cast, and I for one can't wait.

On the other hand, I never saw an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. I tried once - and turned it off instantly when the opening sequence started and I realized the theme was a pop song. I don't care what happens, that's just wrong.